Archive for August 8th, 2018

And gosh!! just realized not written much or nothing on the Seine river!! This is the best most glamorous river of France, and not just because it passes by Paris. It goes a long way thru some wonderful towns big and small and full of history and things to see.

The Seine river has a length of 777 km, which flows in the Parisian basin and covers Troyes, Paris, Rouen and Le Havre. Its source is located 446 meters altitude from Source-Seine, in Côte-d’Or dept 21 Burgundy, on the plateau of Langres. Its course has a general orientation from the southeast to the northwest. The Seine throws into the channel between Le Havre and Honfleur. Its watershed, with an area of 79 000 km2, is of interest to nearly 30% of the country’s population.

The Seine is divided into five parts, upstream in Aval: The little Seine, from the source to Montereau-Fault-Yonne (confluence with the Yonne); La Haute Seine, from Montereau-Fault-Yonne to Paris; The crossing of Paris; The Basse Seine, from Paris to Rouen; and The Seine maritime, from Rouen to La Manche.

The artificial lake of the Orient Forest, up Stream of Troyes, and the lake of Der-Chantecoq upstream of Saint-Dizier were created in the years 1960 to 1970 to regulate the flow of the river.

The sources of the Seine are the property of the city of Paris since 1864. An artificial cave was built the following year to house the main source and the statue of a nymph symbolising the river. It also houses the remains of a Gallo-Roman temple (now buried). Objects testifying of the cult to the sources of the river (Dea Sequana) are exposed to the Archaeological Museum of Dijon.

Here is a list of the main tributaries (greater than 100 km, or basin greater than 1 000 km2 or Débit medium greater than 10 m3 known to the nearest confluence direct from the Seine and located with their confluence by distance (km) with the Western boundary of the Seine estuary : These are the Oise Marne, Yonne, Eure Aube Loing Risle Essonne Epte,and Yerre.

The regions and departments crossed are the following, going from the source to the mouth: In the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté: la Côte-d’Or; In the Greater East region: The Aube and the Marne; In the Île-de-France region: Seine-et-Marne, Essonne, Val-de-Marne, Paris, Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, Val-d’Oise and Yvelines; In the Normandy region: Eure, Seine-Maritime and Calvados (along the extreme end of the mouth).

In Paris, the floods are measured since 1876 by a hydrometric scale installed at the Austerlitz Bridge( Pont d’Austerlitz) , nevertheless it is the statue of the Zouave of the Alma bridge (Pont de l’Alma) which remains the most popular. This indicator during the flood of January 1910, water reached on this scale the record height of 8.68 meters ( I guess an ecological disaster but we never heard anything much of it ::)) . Since 1870, the height is taken at the station Paris Austerlitz. Although there have been no large floods in the last sixty years, five large floods occurred in the 20C: in 1910, 1920, 1924, 1945 and 1955. The oldest known floods of the Seine were narrated by Julien (358AD) and Grégoire de Tours (February 582AD ). The last one in May to June 2016, the Seine experienced an important flood. The water level peaks at 6.10 meters on the night of June 3 to 4. It’s the biggest flood in Paris for over 30 years. However, it does not exceed the 6.18 meters of the 1982 flood.

The Seine maritime as well as part of the lower Seine are subjected to the tidal regime, which goes up to the dam of Poses in the Eure (60 cm tidal wave). It was still possible to observe in the 1960’s an imposing wave that could reach 4 meters at the time of the great tides and called Mascaret, more locally a Barre. The phenomenon reached its maximum in Caudebec-en-Caux, about halfway between Le Havre and Rouen.

For Mariners and river Navigation Services, the Seine is broken down into: “Petite Seine” from Marcilly-sur-Seine to Montereau-Fault-Yonne; “Haute Seine” from Montereau-Fault-Yonne to Paris; “Seine parisienne” inside Paris; “Basse Seine” from Paris to Rouen; and “Seine maritime” from Rouen to the sea.

The Seine is navigable on a large part of its course. The responsibility for navigation belongs to the waterways of France (VNF) until Pont Boieldieu in Rouen, and in particular to the navigation Service on the Seine upstream of Amfreville-sous-les-Monts. On the other hand, it does not include the Parisian canals (Canal de Ourcq, Canal Saint-Denis and Canal Saint-Martin) which are managed by the city of Paris.

The port facilities located in Île-de-France belong to the autonomous port of Paris, the first French river port. The main port facilities for freight traffic are located in Limay (Yvelines) and Gennevilliers (Hauts-de-Seine).

The Seine has inspired many painters, and in the19C and 20C , Honoré de Balzac described the Seine from every angle. Gustave Flaubert uses the Seine as a metaphor for the linear flow of time, the symbol of narrative progress. Many poets, French and Francophone, sang the Seine. All too numerous to mention but huge names of all times.

More into Paris proper, the Seine cuts Paris in its midst even if the right bank(rive droite) occupies a space more important than the left bank( rive gauche). In Paris, its length occupies nearly 13 km, with a depth varying between 3.40 and 5.70 meters. Its width varies from 30 to 200 meters. The normal holding of the reach of Paris, i.e. the altitude of the surface in relation to the sea level, is about 27 meters. In Paris, the Seine is crossed by 37 bridges, including four footbridges accessible only to pedestrians. See my post on bridges of Paris above.

The course of the Seine is dotted with many sights. Near Paris a springs from the Seine to Source-Seine; Châtillon-sur-Seine with the numerous tributaries of the Seine, its ancient streets and the Vauclusian source of the Douix; Troyes and its ancient city center with its Churches and Cathedral; Moret-sur-Loing, which is close to the confluence of the Loing with the Seine and the painters; Thomery and the Forest of Fontainebleau; Paris, and the the banks of the Seine.

Outside Paris we have Bougival and its Frog Park (parc de la Grenouillére) on the island of Bougival (île de Bougival) , whose extension is the island of Chatou (île de Chatou) ; Chatou and its Maison Fournaise, rendezvous of the Impressionists and often painted by them; Saint-Honorine and the Musée de la Batellerie (river boat building) (Yvelines); Poissy and its 12C Collegiate Church, where King St. Louis (Louis IX) was born and baptized; Mantes-la-Jolie and its 12C Collegiate Church; La Roche-Guyon and its castle (Val-d’oise), where the comic writer Edgar P. Jacobs has located one of the adventures of Blake and Mortimer, The Diabolical Trap; Giverny and the House of Claude Monet (Eure); The Andelys and the Château-Gaillard; Rouen, the medieval town (Seine-Maritime); Caudebec-en-Caux and the Church of Notre-Dame de Caudebec-en-Caux, masterpiece of flamboyant Gothic and Renaissance; The Tancarville Bridge; The Pont de Normandie; Honfleur and its port; Le Havre rebuilt by the architect Auguste Perret after WWII.

The wonders of the Seine river even beyond Paris. It is good to take a cruise ride beyond the city into the dept 77 Seinte-et-Marne or to Rouen in Seine-Maritime dept 76.

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This is a dandy to visit. I heard about it but been on the extreme opposite of my living areas never came over. Until much later in life, on my trips to Madrid , decided to come over with the family. I really was missing something beautiful ,educational, historical, architecturally inspiring a real museum of real facts and events. I love it!

I am talking about the Museum of Americas or Museo de América up Calle de la Princesa ,right past the Faro de Moncloa on a hilly area just behind the lighthouse tower or Faro de Moncloa. The wonderful Museo de América, a museum on all Spain relates to Latin America and our cultures is here!

Let me tell you a bit on it and hoping you will come and see it.

The Museum of America (Museo de América) is a national museum is dependent on the Ministry of Culture. There are exhibited collections of art, archaeology and ethnology of America since pre-Columbian times to present times. The idea of collecting such collections, envisaged since the time of Cardinal Cisneros, was concretized by government law of 1941 ; the works, which began in 1943 , finished in 1954. Once the institution was established , the collection that was exhibited in rooms of the National Archaeological Museum were transferred to its definitive location in 1962.

The works kept at the museum are of various origins. They are made up of donations, legacies and progressive acquisitions, and essentially of collections formerly deposited in the National Museum of Archaeology. Until 1868, these works were stored at the National Museum of Natural Sciences. In 1771, king Charles III had founded a Royal Cabinet of Natural History, containing objects from the first archaeological excavations and scientific expeditions. This small collection is the original nucleus of the museum.

The collections cover a period extending from prehistoric times to the present day; The essentials, however, consist of pieces of pre-Columbian archaeology, ethnography and colonial art. They bring together more than 25 000 objects.

Through a magnificent collection of pre-Columbian objects (such as those coming from Peru and Guatemala), from the Colonial era (Andean schools and the Viceroyalty of New Spain), and from the contemporary indigenous peoples (from the North west Coast to Amazonas), and using an anthropological discourse, presided over by respect for all cultures, the Museum of America offers the possibility of stopping at the many objects, texts and images that have spread for centuries realities and inventions on America. In this way it is possible to recognize how their peoples and cultures evolved through more than 12,000 years of history, how their models of society were articulated, how it was their contribution to the world of religion, and what instruments they used to communicate with each other.

The permanent exhibition is organized in five parts:

Knowledge of America: This space seeks to present the way in which the knowledge of the American continent and its peoples has been built in Europe, through the exhibition of the myths that once spread over the New World, Chronicles, Expeditions and mapping.

The Reality of America: This part is intended to be a presentation of the settlement of America from the original migrations to the development of the different indigenous cultures, presented chronologically.

Society: this part evokes the existence of the various American societies: Tribal Societies and complex societies. It is treated daily life, through housing, the economy, the organization of society, the power.

Religion: in this space are exposed the main deities, as well as myths and sacred places, rites, objects of worship,… This part is equally interested in the religions of the United States and the Catholic religion, established by the Europeans.

Communication: Here, the exhibition focuses on the development of written and oral communication in America. It is based on Codex, but also on native languages and Spanish.

The exhibition of objects of art or archaeology are complemented by audiovisual presentations.